Mice and the Best Way to Deal With Them

[biddyboo]

Barn cats...the mice feed them, they keep the mouse population down, saving feed and disease. Works for us ~G

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:
I take them into the yard and open up the trap - my BC dog Hannah dispatches them with much joy. She will hunt in the coop when invited, but when chasing a mouse - everything in her way is moved or up-ended with much haste including hen occupied nest boxes.

 

[LizFM]

Quote:
TTVAR (is what it used to be called) has worked in some places to keep a stable, healthy population of feral cats:
Trap
Test
Vaccinate (against rabies)
Alter ("fix")
Release

Having stray cats constantly come and go causes all kinds of problems for the cats and the people. If you have a stable, healthy population of resident feral cats, they will often 'discourage' other cats from hanging around (if you don't have any outdoor cats, basically you have an opening in the ecosystem for stray cats to keep moving in, at least temporarily).

If you have cats who are good mouse hunters, and want them to catch a Lot of mice, keep them well fed so they hunt for fun (this is why they fed cats in ancient Egypt). Otherwise they just hunt til they're full.

Of course, cats who are around me never stay truly feral for very long (the cat's choice, not mine)...they recognize me as a cat person and start coming to me with their list of demands (even when they belong to other people)

 

[jqs birds]

When it gets to cold for the drowning trap I use the Victor tin cat repeating trap it works great snd you don't need to bait it.
Just besause it's cold doesn't mean that the mice aren't breeding now. I just found a nest in a couple bales of straw that had 6 little ones in it. It has been below zero here frequently in the last month too.

 

[fordmommy]

Do you know anyone with snakes???

 

[strawberryfields]

We have snakes in the summer... I think they are green racers. They are good mousers. The chickens are good mousers too.

And JQS... I don't think I have ever seen as many mice in my pole barn as I have this year. They run out from under the feeders (my feeders are elevated off the ground) at night when I snap the lights on. But then again, I didn't have electricity in the pole barn before this past summer either.

They like to breed in the hay I keep for the horses and goats, and they also find other places to build their nests. When I find their nests I just feed the babies to the chickens and ducks, and they eat them up as if they were candy!

I see them every day, during the daytime, too, running along the floor and through out the coop. Some of my hens are good mousers, too, but I have never seen a population boom like this.

I may try that Victor Tin Cat... I have seen it has gotten some very good reviews. Also I am going to try the bucket of death when it is not freezing here...

I am also going to try and find some plans to build my own trap... maybe a combination of two different traps maybe. I may need to experiment.

All your comments are very much appreciated!

 

[Momtofive]

Everyone is talking about mice but from the size of the droppings I found in the feeder I think we have rats. Will the bucket of death work for these larger critters?

 

[patman75]

Quote:
If they get out of the 5 gallon try a bigger bucket or a garbage can.

 

[ninny]

I have to go with the barn cats. There shelters that have barn cat programs. They will place out fixed cats. There is also programs to fix barn cats for really cheap. Our cats rock!!